Carol Ann Duffy Study Notes

1. LITTLE RED jacket crown LRC is a metrical composition written by Carol Ann Duffy, and is the first base poem in the anthology The Worlds Wife, publish in 1999. By interpreting the fairy tale of puny bolshy equitation cover in her poem, Duffy recounts her ten days of sum to Adrian Henri, who was twenty-three stratums elder her senior. She places herself as the fount of Little Red poll and Henri as the brute. Duffy in like manner alludes to fairy storys such as Sleeping Beauty in pouffe Herod or more conventional stories exchangeable The Hunch posterior of Notre Dame in Mrs. Quasimodo.In LRC, however, Duffy uses the fairytale basic of the woods, symbolically a Lords Supper of release, to represent her change from a candid teenager to a woman who gains inner maturity and independency, as a woman and a poet. a. Form and structure POV of Little Red lens hood? by extension, this is the POV of Duffy when she was untried? access truest thoughts of the character ? also allows the ratifier to see how she progresses from a naive young teenager who is struck by the eats (and by extension Henris) sophistry and, more importantly, physical features to someone who has seen medieval this illusion and is more mature . anchor features Duffys use of the fairytale? beholding by dint of illusions to find truth, leading to version? the illusion that Little Red Cap has to see through ? also whitethorn contain a moral, as fairytales do. musical composition LRRH may have focused on never chargeing strangers, this one may be ab fall out learning to trust and know yourself before anything else (girl gains liberty at the end- I took an axe, etc. )? tie in to self-discovery? Duffy also subverts the original tale by removing the passive female protagonist who gets rescue by a man, into someone who asserts her independence by taking an axe to the wolf herselfSetting? contri hardlyes to the theme of self-discovery and awakening ? we begin at child hoods end, where the polarity pete loss out ? there is a intellect of safety and innocence lost, as she is on her own ? the listing in the first stanza presents a world that encapsulates childhood ( play fields), work (factory) and retreat (allotments) ? she has left the microcosmic reality of childhood, at heart her house, and is surrounded by this vast chimneysweep of life? sense of being overwhelmed? but before she can join them she essential go through the woods? ymbol of a eucharist of passage? somewhere unknown, grand that LRC must traverse through in order to come out the other(a) side with her flowers, singing all precisely Characterization of LRC? throughout the poem, the dynamic of the descent between LRC and the wolf, as well as the states of each character change ? represents Duffys changing and growing dissatisfaction in her sum to Henri? character represents Duffy at age sixteen (young)? described as sweet sixteenwaif, emphasizing her innocence and naivete ? casual tone (You might await why. ), again highlights her juvenility, which attracts her to the more mature wolf? attraction causes whirlwind romance (I clung boulder clay dawn to his trashing fur/ my stockings ripped to shreds) ? emphasized through violent verbs, and her need to seek apology (what little girl doesnt affectionately love a wolf? )? suggests she doesnt really know what she is doing? so, it takes ten years in the woods to come out the other side? she undergoes her rite of passage? represents the disillusionment caused during the final years of Duffys marriage? fterwards, she gains independence (repetition of I), and by doing so she finds her own voice inside her femininity in the final lines of the poem (I come with my flowers, singing, all only) Characterization of the wolf? represents the older Adrian Henri ? character progresses in the opposite way of LRC ? he starts off at a high status, but falls from grace at the 6th stanzas turning floor ? introduced in s tanza 2? Duffy emphasizes his masculine, physical qualities (What odontiasis ), emphasized by allusions to the original tale, as well as the regular poesy scheme (focuses on hairy hired hand, bearded irritate)? lso creates a puerile tone, emphasizing LRCs schoolgirl attraction to him, and how he has the upper hand status-wise ? portrayed as mysterious, sophisticated and confident (contrasts with juvenility of LRC)- red wine staining his bearded jaw- it is red wine, not blood? also has connotations of illusion? however, in the 6th stanza she sees through the illusion ? realizes the greying wolf howls the same old song at the moon? implies that she was only taken by the initial luxuria for him, but that she has become bored and dissatisfy over time? caesura and parallel structures (year in, year out) emphasize this? o she emasculates him (one chop, scrotum to throat), relinquishing him of his power, becoming independent In conclusion, Duffy manages to explore the themes of sel f-discovery and independence as she takes a look back at her 10-year marriage to Adrian Henri. She cleverly places herself and Henri as the characters Little Red Cap and the wolf, subverting the traditional fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood and by doing this, uses the fairytale staple of seeing through illusions. Finally, Little Red Cap emerges out of the woods, completing her rite of passage.